I Love Asian Girls!; Orientalism through the Female Asian American Lens

Abstract

“My immigrant experience is not the same as these women, but I felt it in my bones. Because to be here is to be the same,” laments Eileen Cheng-Yin Chow, a professor of Asian American and diaspora studies at Duke University, following the Atlanta Spa killings. The sexualization of Asian women has persisted since their first arrival to the Americas in the 20th century. Not only has this caused direct violence, like the Atlanta Spa shooting in March 2021, which resulted in the death of 6 Asian women, but also the ‘orientalizing’ perception and self-perception of Asian American Women (AAW). In this paper, I explore the historical origins of this orientalization as it relates to media and then analyze contemporary art media (poetry, photography, etc.) from AAW to explore how this has affected modern self-perception. By focusing on the direct perspective of AAW, I explore different ways orientalism is synthesized through AAW identity, dissonance, fragmentation, and rebellion. Through my paper, I conclude that the intersectionality between orientalism, gender, and nationality has caused a profound disillusion from traditional and cultural expectations of the ‘homeland’ as well as disillusioned from the stereotypical expectations of the Americas. This, however, may contribute to the creation of a new identity, which hinges on the unique aspects of intersectionality, which focuses on the AAW voice instead of the colonial voice.